GB2189124A

GB2189124A - Decoy

Info

Publication number: GB2189124A
Application number: GB08707760A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Leslie Royston Hutchings
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1986-04-19
Filing date: 1987-04-01
Publication date: 1987-10-21
Also published as: GB8707760D0

Abstract

A decoy consists of a body (of the solid or shell type) connected by a spring 13 to a joint which is at one end of a support 10. The body has an upstanding fin 16 at the tail portion thereof. The point at which the spring 13 is connected to the body is displaced, towards said fin 16, from the point on said body at which the longitudinal axis of the support extends through said body; the result is that any wind acts on the fin to turn the head of the body into the wind and also acts to cause the body to "rock" on the spring 13 in simulation of a bird's feeding action. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Decoy This invention relates to a decoy.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a pigeon decoy which will be cheap to manufacture and which, in use in the field, will simulate reality.

Accordingly, the present invention consists in a decoy which comprises a body having a head portion and a tail portion and representing a pigeon, and a support adapted.to be stuck into the ground, said body and said support being so connected to one another by inter alia spring means that any prevailing wind will cause the body to move about a vertical axis in order to ensure that said head portion faces into the wind and will cause the body to simulate the movements of a feeding bird.

In a decoy as described in the preceding paragraph, that end of said spring which is connected to the support may engage a socket which is formed or provided in the upper end of said support. Preferably, said end of the spring which is connected to the support is securely attached to a plug which is freely rotatable in said socket. The plug mentioned in the preceding sentence may be right cylindrical and may be made of a plastics material. Likewise, the socket may be provided by a device which is made of a plastics material and which has a right cylindrical cavity formed in one end portion thereof and which is secured to the upper end of the support in any suitable manner.

In a decoy as described in either of the two preceding paragraphs, the tail portion of said body preferably includes an upstanding fin.

In a preferred embodiment of the decoy which is provided with said upstanding fin, the point at which the spring means is connected to said body is displaced from the point at which said vertical axis extends through said body, the displacement being away from the head portion towards said upstanding fin. In this manner, the decoy is caused (at least some of the time) to rock on the spring means and this rocking movement simulates the feeding action of a pigeon.

In a decoy as described in any one of the three preceding paragraphs, the spring means is preferably a length of spring steel. In the preferred embodiment, the length of spring steel is cranked at two spaced locations which are near the respective ends of said length.

The present invention further consists in a decoy which is constructed, arranged and adapted to operate substantially as hereinafter described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying diagrammatic drawings which depict one generally preferred embodiment of said decoy. In said drawings: Figure 1 represents a decoy of the shell type, partially cut away to reveal the mounting; Figure 2 is an exploded view of a rotary joint to which the shell type decoy is connected; and Figure 3 represents the decoy of Fig. 1 in plan.

Referring to the drawings, the lower preferably pointed end of a stick 10 is stuck into the ground and the upper end thereof is connected to a joint 11. One cranked end 12 of a spring 13 is connected to the joint 11 and the other cranked end 14 of said spring is connected to a shell 15 which is formed from a plastics material in any suitable manner. The shell is so formed as to represent a bird and said shell is provided with an upstanding fin 16 at or near that end (the tail portion) of the bird which is remote from the head portion thereof.

The joint 11 can be seen from Fig. 2 to consist of two coaxial and conjoined parts 20, 21 of which the part 20 is tabular in order to accommodate the upper end 22 of said stick 10 and of which the part 21 is cup-shaped.

The bottom of the cup-shaped part 21 therefore closes one end of the tubular part 20.

Said part 21 is formed, near its open end, with a circumferential groove 23 which is adapted to receive a complementary bead 24 on a plug 25. The plug 25 is integral with a socket member 26 which is formed with a slot or socket 27 into which the end 12 of the spring 13 is pushed.

The shell is provided with a socket member 30 similar to the socket member 26, the member 30 being for the other end 14 to be pushed into.

The unit which consists of the parts 20, 21, and the plug 25 with its integral member 26, are preferably made of a non-toxic plastics material. Before the plug is pushed, with a click fit, into the part 21, it will be desirable to apply a little lubricant. Interengagement of the bead 24 and the groove 23 ensures that the joint parts will stay together.

It is to be understood that the body may be of the whole or solid type or of the shell type; if of the preferred shell type, the body can be made, for example, by vacuum-forming.

The spring 13 preferably consists of a thin strip of spring steel, said strip being cranked near its end in order to provide said ends 12, 14. In the form of the decoy illustrated, said end 14 of the spring is connected to the body at or in the region of the most forward part (i.e. nearest to the head) of the upstanding fin 16 of the tail of the body.

In use, any prevailing wind or breeze will always turn the head of the body into the wind by virtue of the fact that the point of attachment of the spring to the body is nearer to the tail of the body than is the point at which the rotational axis of the device extends through the body. Moreover, because of the thinness and great flexibility of the spring, the body will tend to rock in the directions indicated by the arrows, thereby simulating the peck action of a feeding bird.

Of course, the stick 10 may be so formed as to provide at its upper (in use) end a cupshaped recess into which the plug 25 is inserted; in such a case, said stick 10 could be made of a plastics material and would terminate in a portion identical with the part 21 described with reference to Fig. 2.

Claims

1. A decoy which comprises a body having a head portion and a tail portion and representing a pigeon, and a support adapted to be stuck into the ground, said body and said support being so connected to one another by inter alia spring means that any prevailing wind will cause the body to move about a vertical axis in order to ensure that said head portion faces into the wind and will cause the body to simulate the movements of a feeding pigeon.

2. A decoy as claimed in Claim 1, wherein that end of said spring which is connected to the support engages a socket which is formed or provided in the upper end of said support.

3. A decoy as claimed in Claim 2, wherein said end of the spring which is connected to the support is securely attached to a plug which is freely rotatable in said socket.

4. A decoy as claimed in Claim 3, wherein said plug is right cylindrical and is made of a plastics material.

5. A decoy as claimed in Claim 4, wherein said socket is provided by a device which is made of a plastics material and which has a right cylindrical cavity formed in one end portion thereof and which is secured to the upper end of the support in any suitable manner.

6. A decoy as claimed in any one of the preceding Claims, wherein the tail portion of said body includes an upstanding fin.

7. A decoy as claimed in Claim 6, wherein the point at which the spring means is connected to said body is displaced from the point at which said vertical axis extends through said body, the displacement being away from said head portion towards said upstanding fin.

8. A decoy as claimed in any one of the preceding Claims, wherein the spring means is preferably a length of spring steel.

9. A decoy as claimed in Claim 8, wherein the length of spring steel is cranked at two spaced locations which are near the respective ends of said length.

10. A decoy constructed, arranged and adapted to operate substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying diagrammatic drawings.

11. Any features of novelty, taken singly or in combination, of the embodiments of the invention hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.